


Stop for Me

by EmilliaGryphon



Series: Guardians of the Galaxy One Shots [25]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Comics), Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), MCU, Marvel
Genre: Angst, Emotional Conflict, Friendship, Gamora is a good friend, Gen, Groot and Gamora bond, Guilt, Honor, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Misadventures, Platonic Bonding, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Love, Platonic Relationships, Protection, Sacrifice, Secrets, Spoilers for the comics, Starmora, Team as Family, but first they fight, character (almost) death, gamora has feelings, groot is angry, keeping secrets, mostly of anger, over Rocket, planonic love, to be rocket is to suffer, unsolicited emotional vulnerability, who can blame him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:26:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23206948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilliaGryphon/pseuds/EmilliaGryphon
Summary: During the GOTG Comic Run Faithless, Rocket is dying. He's run away from the Guardians and cannot be found. It is implied/stated later by Groot that Gamora actually found the ringtail and was secretly going back and fourth to see him and drink with him. She was keeping his location and condition secret, killing any of his enemies before they could get to him so that he could die in peace. She was, according to Groot prepared to bury the ringtail and honor his desire to choose how he gets to be remembered. It's all tragic and emotional and sappy so I leapt at the chance to write this. My interpretation of that behind the scenes.*Warnings: Themes of death/dying/mortality. Implied animal abuse, torture, scenes with hospitals/medical equipment (not explicit but mentioned).*
Relationships: Gamora & Rocket, Groot & Gamora, Groot & Rocket, grocket
Series: Guardians of the Galaxy One Shots [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/775296
Kudos: 13





	Stop for Me

**Author's Note:**

> I'd recommend googling a summary of the gotg comic run Faithless before reading this fic. It will help you understand things. I jumped around quite a bit so be warned.
> 
> Heather Douglas aka Moondragon has the ability to invade someone's mind and control them. 
> 
> Also I am basing this off my understanding of the comics. I don't know where Gamora actually was, her status with the rest of the team etc. This is my interpretation.

_“Because I could not stop for Death –_

_He kindly stopped for me –_

_The Carriage held but just Ourselves –_

_And Immortality.”_

Because I Could Not Stop for Death - Emily Dickenson 

**Tyressel - Deserted Forest Planet 11th Quadrant**

_Target locked, armed with two Kree evart guns._ Gamora crouched in the branches of a large tellwart tree, squinting between the branches at the lone Estarian down below. The fool stopped, glancing around the dark trees. She lunged, landing on the Estarian’s broad shoulders and disarming her in one fell swoop. 

“Where is he?” Gamora growled, pressing her blade to the assassin’s thick purple neck. She flailed, twisting, trying to reach her arm out for her evart gun, scattered across the forest floor. “I know you were after him, where is he?” The alien made to bite, cursing in some foriegn tongue. Gamora pressed the blade harder, keeping her grip tight. “Take me to him and I will make your death painless.” 

“Wh….who are...y...you?” The Estarian whimpered through her beginning to weaken under Gamora’s weight. She could feel it in the way the assassin’s muscles tensed and loosened, tensed and loosened again. 

“I,” Gamora seethed, watching blue blood pucker from the Estarian’s neck, “am the most dangerous woman in the galaxy. Take me to your target or I will gut you like an orloni on a spit.” 

Gamora, sucked a breath, counting down before she made her move. _One, two...three,_ she flicked her blade from the assassin’s mouth, instantly checking her in the temple with the helm of her sword. It worked. The Estarian stumbled, in time for Gamora to leap off of her and grab the tossed guns. The assassin stumbled weakly to the side, tripping on an unassuming root. Gamora sprinted after her, taking aim best she could with the cumbersome weapon and shot. The assassin screamed, buckling. 

“Take me to him NOW!” Gamora shouted, voice cracking. _Assuming he is still here. He’d better be._

“.....I’ll….t...tale you to him...if you promise not to k...kill me.” Gamora caught up to her, tackling the alien unceremoniously to the ground, pinning her once more. _….I’ve come too far to give up now. Risked too much, lied too much._ The thought of it made her stomach churn. She shook Peter’s face from her head; turning again to the Estarian bleeding on the ground. 

“Deal.” 

\---

“H….here,” Gamora stopped, smirking. _A Tellinian cruiser, I might have known._ She tightened her grip on the limping Estarian. Dragging the wounded assassin closer and trying to stifle the panic rising within her. _What if she was too late? What if all the lying was for nothing? What if it’s not him?_ Gamora held her breath as she neared the ship. _A window on the port side._

“What’re you w...waiting…” Gamora clamped her hand over the assassin’s mouth, tightening her grip. 

“Shut up.” 

She peered through the window, heart dropping in her chest. All the imagining, all the speculation and wandering had not prepared her. Her hand tightened over the assassin’s mouth, trying to stop her own shaking. 

“Rocket!” She pounded her fist against the metal door. “It’s Gamora! Open up! Now!” She sucked her breath, waiting for any sound. “I mean it! open this door or I will….hey!” Gamora spun, realizing the Estarian had slipped from her grip and was darting away through the trees. _Forget this, she gave me what I wanted._ Gamora fingered the evart gun, holding steady, aimed and fired true. The assassin went down without a cry, the bullet going straight through her skull. _She ran, I had no choice. She would’ve come back and finished Rocket off some other day,_ Gamora rationalized. She unloaded the gun and dropped it to the ground. Waiting in the heavy silence. Now it was just the two of them. Her stomached flopped again, her arms shaking. Every time she thought of the image she had seen through the ship’s window Gamora swallowed down the panic. _I knew it was bad...I didn’t realize it was that bad._

“Rocket,” she tried softer this time. “It’s just me. The others are quadrants away. I’m here alone. Please, open up.” She waited, some distant bird called in the canopy above. Through the trees she three green suns cast emerald light around her. It would be a pretty planet, if it didn’t reek with rot and swamp water and muck. _What a fitting place Rocket had chosen to die,_ she thought darkly. Something inside the ship shuffled, metal against metal scraping. She waited, standing square before the ship’s main door. Finally, the red door slid upward. Gamora took it in by degrees as Rocket slowly came into view, from the claws on his paws, the shaking legs, the thin whip of a tail, no longer bushy and ringed but dull like a piece of frayed rope. A sunken chest. 

_Calm yourself._

Gamora ordered, swallowing a lump in her throat. Rocket’s neck was thin, eyes red and swollen nearly shut, patchy fur dull. Bandages fixed to his arms, an intravenous line on each limb, tubes stuck out every which way. If she didn’t know better he may have robbed the nearest emergency room on Retaok. _That is most likely exactly what he did._ She watched him pull down the clear breathing mask that was strapped across his muzzle. He looked her up and down, cocking his head. 

“Staring is rude Gamora,” he wheezed. She did her best not to flinch. 

_Of course he wouldn’t want to be found._

She tried to ignore the sight of his lungs under paper skin, pushing against his ribs with the effort. She strode past him.

“Got anything to drink?”

“I th….thought...thought you’d never aa..ask!”

His hollow laughter only made her want for more alcohol. 

“G...gams, what’s with the ...d...dead b..broad?”

She stopped, turning. 

“That dead broad wanted you dead. She was on her way here to kill you.” 

Rocket shrugged. 

Gamora turned on her heel, taking off down the corridor. The screech of metal halted her step. Rocket limped behind her, dragging the metal poles that hung heavy with liquid bags. Inexplicable rage mounted in her, misplaced. She stormed back over to him, forcing herself to calm down and walked in step with his lame gait. It took everything within her not to offer help but she knew what would come if she did. 

“You...you said it's just you?” He sounded so uncertain. Refusing to meet her gaze. She walked consciously slowly, allowing him to lead the way with his equipment until they made it to the ship’s main bay and low and behold an makeshift bar. 

“Yes, it’s just me.” She snapped, reaching for a bottle of clear quasian liquor. It’s stinging taste burnt her tongue and tingled her stomach. She set it down with a firm clink. Watching him take the bottle with trembling hands and pour it liberally. 

“You don’t have to do this,” Gamora spoke through jaw clenched frustration. “We will find some way to stop whatever is happening to you. Come back to the ship. To Peter and Groot….come home Rocket.” 

His ears twitched, looking away. She watched him take a drink. The veins in his neck swelling as he swallowed. _When had his fur begun to fall out?_ He tapped his claws against the glass. 

“I ain’t going soft.”

“What’s wrong with being soft?” 

Rocket shook his head, 

“It’s..” he devolved into coughing. Gamora took another drink. “I’m protectin’ them!” He sputtered. 

“You’re being selfish.” She snapped back, the fiery alcohol adding a bite to her voice. The ringtail poured himself another drink. 

“I never got no say in this,” he gestured weakly to himself. “Didn’t get much say in anything. So let me have a say in this.” He whispered, staring into his glass. “Lemme have a say in how I go.” He looked up at her, eyes glossy, unfocussed. He looked at her without seeing her. Gamora shifted uncomfortably. Pouring another drink. “I…I’m not going soft,” he repeated. 

That was it. Gamora slammed her fist down on the table, sending the glasses scattering. 

“Why not choose life?! We can get you help. There are places all the across the galaxy that can save you.”

“I ain’t going nowhere!” 

He tried to yell but it came out a grating whisper. Too late, she’d seen it already. _Fear. Terror. Horrific speculation that whatever it would take to heal him would be worse than that which was already happening._ She twinged with sympathy, _what an awful choice...what would I do..? If I had to go back to Thanos or...or die?_ _What kind of a choice is that?_ Gamora steeled herself. Determined. There was only one way to find out. 

Gamora snatched one of the tubings, a clear chord running from the raccoonoid’s mouth to the oxygen tank beside them. She pinched it, kinking the tube, the whine of the gass erupting. Rocket went rigid. 

“G...Gamora!” He shook, thin chest heaving. She glared even as he collapsed. She knelt, looming over him. He gagged for air. “G….Gamora...I...I can’t.” Red eyes bulged, kicking weakly.

“What?” Her fingers tightened around the coil. She knelt over him, watching him struggle. His nostrils flailing. “You can’t what?”

“G...gmora…” 

She held her own breath, whole body tense. Her sweaty hands held fast to the tube, the squeak of the building gas arched, building her anxiety. Beneath her Rocket shuddered, eyes roving. His chest puffed in and out, limbs going heavy. Gamora had seen it plenty of times. He looked at her, making his choice. 

Gamora let go, the rush of the air spouted back through the tube. Rocket arched upward, tubes and contraptions shuttering. Gamora reached out, gingerly taking his fragile arms and helping him upward, her own heart sinking. 

“So you’ll die alone and in pain for your pride?” She fumed. Gamora had long prided herself on measured emotions and logic, it was the only thing that had kept her alive for most of her life, it was what had allowed her to survive. But this? This she could not muster through. Confused, helpless rage coursed through her. She glared at the raccoonoid with righteous vitriol.

Rocket fiddled with the monitors attached to his chest, still panting. 

“I’ll….die with...d..dignity the way I want.”

“Because drinking yourself into oblivion, stumbling around in your own piss and shit is so dignifying!” Gamora snarled, blazing. Rocket bared pointed teeth,

“Then why’d you even come Gamora? Did the tree put you up to t...this?” The ringtail heaved for breath from his outburst, lifting the oxygen mask and taking three deep breaths. Gamora looked away. He teetered for a moment on his shaking feet, but watched her carefully like a deer wary of a coming wolf. For her part Gamora wrung her hands together; as soon as the rage had flooded her, it was gone. 

“I came,” she began slowly, “because I watched my parents die in front of me...and I was helpless to stop it.” She took a shaking breath, trying to suppress the memories. “But not this time. This time I can do something,” she continued with renewed determination. “I’m not standing by while someone I love....” 

Rocket’s mouth fell open, his whiskers twitched. 

“You….you l..love me?” He breathed. 

The most dangerous woman in the galaxy rolled her eyes, then stopped realizing his genuine shock. She stopped short, stepping closer to him. 

“Why do you think I’m here Rocket?” She whispered gently, “Why do you think we’ve all been searching for you since you left? Why do you think I went behind everyone’s backs to come here?”

Rocket looked away, coughing for a moment. Gamora reached out a hand impulsively but he shook it away. _He’d made his choice. He has a right to his own decisions._

“If this is what you truly want, fine.” She watched him cling to the pole for support, sucking a few more breaths of air. “I’ll be back in two Xandarian turns. Medicine, bandages, supplies, whatever you need.” 

“More booze?” Rocket gestured to the spilled liquor and remaining bottles. 

“There will be others like that Estarian,” she thought aloud. “You’ve pissed off a lot of people and they will be coming. I’ll take care of it. If you are determined to die,” she forced the words past the lump in her throat, “you deserve to do it on your own terms.” Rocket nodded. “I’ll keep your location secret for now, but they’ll find you eventually. Either Heather will with her powers or Groot will find you by sheer force of will.”

“If Groot’s gonna find me you better grab this oxygen tube again and be done with it,” he fingered the clear tubing in his claws, managing a wheezing laugh she did not reciprocate. Instead she turned back down the hall of the ship, making for the exit. 

“I appreciate you doing this for me...” Rocket called after her softly. Gamora turned, looking down at him. Something gray and heavy overwhelmed her inside, taking her reason and dashing it to pieces. Her chest synched. 

“Of course. That’s what family does for each other,” she managed, tears welled the rims of her eyes. “They respect the wishes of their loved ones. No matter how much they h...hate it. No matter how much..it hurts. And you’re right. You never got a say in how or why you were made. They never gave you that right. But you have it now. And I respect that.” She sniffed, watching his own large eyes dampen. She forced a smile. “And besides, you’d do the same for me.” 

Rocket punched the controls, opening the large door of the ship. 

“I’m gonna miss you Gams,” he managed. 

Gamora sniffed once more, wrapping her grief around resolve. She straightened, clearing her throat and smiled good naturedly. 

“I’ll see you in two turns....and every two after that.”

\---

**Thirty Three Xandarian Turns Later**

**The Benatar:**

“Where is he?” Groot bristled, angry thorns erupting from his broad shoulders. Gamora planted her feet on the metal floor, folding her arms. 

“I’m sorry about this Groot, but I’m not going to tell you.”

Groot grimaced, before she could react he unleashed one long arm, seizing her in his vines and lifting her off the floor, slamming her into the hard wall of the ship’s bay. 

“Unhand me Wood God...I don’t want to hurt you,” she leveled with him, staring into those ruthless brown eyes. Who knew Groot would go from easy going and peaceable to stalwartly angry so soon after Rocket disappeared. The flora colossus’s tight grip loosened. 

“You already have.” 

Gamora twisted, landing on her feet just in time. She swallowed her shame. Groot stalked past her, sitting heavily in the co-pilot's chair. 

“He wants to be left alone Groot,” she tried. “I know it’s...it’s terrible but...it’s his decision. I told him I’d honor that.” 

“No it’s not his decision.” Groot growled. “It’s ours. He is part of this team,….I won’t just let him...,” the flora stopped short, words choked. Heather reached out gently touching the flora’s shoulder.

Peter looked up from his hands, wary. 

“Groot’s right Gamora, we have to do what’s best for Rocket. But..what’s best for him and what he wants...might be different.”

_He’s right. You know he is._

Gamora grumbled.

“Gamora,” Heather reasoned, “I don’t want to do this, but...if I must…I will make you tell me where,”

“Try it,” She dared, casting a glare at the woman. 

Groot stood abruptly, turning for one of the small pods. 

“I’m going to find him. I don’t care what he wants.” 

Gamora stood, hand going to her sword but Peter jumped between them, raising his arms, placating. 

“Gamora, let him go.”

“I’m going with him,” Heather stood, following the Flora colossus. She returned Gamora’s contemptuous look before disappearing down the hall. 

Gamora stepped forward, startling as Peter gripped her shoulder, 

“Let them go. If they find Rocket and manage to talk to him, well….if anyone can get him to come back, it’s Groot.” 

Gamora frowned, 

“I doubt it Peter.” 

\---

**The Benatar After The Battle**

**with The Universal Church of Truth**

“What are you doing?!” Gamora shouted over the sound of gunfire as the Benatar sped away. Peter frantically punched coordinates into the ship’s navigation. She stood, looking over his shoulder, sweat beading on her forehead. She sucked a breath, heart nearly stopping. 

“Halfworld?!”

“They are the only people who know Rocket’s biology and how to fix it. If anyone can save him it’ll be them.”

Gamora rounded on the Flora colossus, who held Rocket tight to him in a protective cocoon. 

“We're not bringing him to Halfworld! They were the ones who tortured him!” 

Gamora’s unyielding restraint and reason were crumbling, fast. She knew it but at the moment there was no time to care. Groot only stared straight ahead as the ship lurched across another jump point. 

“Groot!” 

Gamora beat her fist against him in a rage. The ship raced onward, she curled her fingers into his arm for stability, and in anger, pieces of bark flaking off. 

“He’d rather die than go to some hospital or lab, never mind Halfworld! You bring him back there, you're no better than the people who created him! You'd hand him over to those sadists! How could you do that?!” Her voice cracked. Groot grunted, throwing her off of him with a single uncaring shrug. 

“Guys….” Peter tried from his position at the wheel. 

Gamora regained her stance, only to have Drax’s impenetrable arms wrap around her. Any other time, she’d easily free herself with her sword but her mind was not working, not focusing on tact or precision. Somewhere amid all those branches Rocket lay without any life-saving equipment, his own cybernetics rebelling against him. He was being unmade and he’d only sped up the process trying to save them. _And this...this was how Groot was returning the favor?_ She’d seen the hollow terror in the raccoonoid’s eyes when she even suggested getting help. Now that fear was becoming hers. 

“How can you do this to him?!” She screamed, thrashing in Drax’s hold. “He doesn’t want to hurt anymore Groot don’t you get that?! He doesn’t want to be put back together again and again!”

“Gamora we will be with him the whole time,” Heather tried to intervene. “We won’t let anything happen to him.” 

“You can’t take him back there, you can’t betray him like that! Groot!” Her voice rose to a shriek, unable to contain her outrage. _Groot, Groot out of all of them._ That was the worst, most heartbreaking part of it all. Rocket trusted him, loved him above everyone else and Groot was going to hand him over to them. 

“He’ll die! And if he doesn’t die he’ll suffer! They'll make him and unmake him again! How can you live with that?!” 

When the flora finally looked at her it was with eyes as cutting as steel. 

“I’d rather do something than nothing.” he rumbled. “At least I could say I tried to save him ....unlike you.”

Gamora only gnashed her teeth, trying to free herself. 

“Halfworld coming up,” Peter announced. 

Gamora twisted, elbowing Drax in the ribs and darted forward, blade out and aimed at the wood god, who’s attention had returned to Rocket. Gamora ran, swinging the sword upward and...fell to the ground, Heather’s presence crashing into her mind. Heather now possessed control of her body and, despite Gamora’s will, steered her to the copilot seat, strapping her in. Through the large windows, the forbidding planet loomed, half forested with pinkish trees, half bare and covered in buildings visible even at this distance. Halfworld. 

_I’m so, so sorry. Forgive me Rocket._

She’d failed him. 

\---

**Halfworld BioEngineering Facility**

**Keystone Quadrant**

**Four Terran Days Later**

Gamora bypassed the security on the door and entered the small, sanitary room with caution, her stomach one wrong motion away from expelling itself at any given moment. Rocket lay motionless in the too large bed, monitors beeping steadily, which if nothing else she assumed was a good sign. The scientists at Halfworld had welcomed Rocket into their care, perhaps a little too enthusiastic at the prospect. Going so far as to offer “further enhancements.” But between threats and constant vigilance however the team more or less agreed to allow the procedures that would save the raccoonoid’s life. For her part she’d reserved herself to silence. Trying to recover the embarrassment from her outburst on the ship. It had all happened so fast. Heather had not released her from her possession until they’d whisked Rocket back behind the O.R. doors and by that time she was too exhausted to fight anyone.

She crept closer, Rocket appeared to be sleeping soundly. His little chest going in and out still unnervingly skinny but breathing better. Gamora stopped short, only just realizing Groot. He sat hunkered at the bedside, a freshly grown bouquet of flowers on the nightstand, adding a pleasant smell to the otherwise chemical stench. His eyes only stared at Rocket, still as stone.

“I should not have yelled at you.” Groot murmured after a time. Gamora remained stoic but took a step closer eyes surveying the chart that hung on the other side of the bed. She plucked it up, reading the report. 

“They completely upgraded his mods,” she read aloud. “Skeletal, muscular, nural.” 

“I know what it says.” 

She threw the chart down on the nearby table and collapsed in the chair opposite Groot, watching the subtle fur on the raccoonoid’s ears twitch with every tiny motion. She ran a hand across her face, her own exhaustion catching up with her. 

They sat in tense silence. An occasional beep or innocuous announcement interpreting their brooding. She watched Groot who watched the ringtail. He picked at his own bark mostly, doing anything but looking at her. 

The blankets shifted, Rocket stirred. Gamora’s heart leapt into her throat only to fall when he did not open his eyes, but fell back into a steady sleep. Groot stood, and beant down over his friend, gently touching his own brow to Rocket’s, one large hand cradling the raccoonoid’s face and closing his eyes. 

“You are the most important person in Rocket’s life,” Gamora whispered, rotating the rings on each index finger, anything to avoid looking at the imposing flora. “You were right. His choice to run away and die affected all of us, you most of all. And I was going to let him die without saying goodbye.” Tears threatened to resurface.

Groot withdrew his embrace and stood, looking down at her; that rigid cracked face unreadable. 

“You were honoring Rocket’s wishes without question. Protecting him. Sacrificing your own feelings to do so. You were going to bury him.”

“Yes.”

Groot nodded.

“That takes more honor and more of a different kind of love than even I could muster.”

Gamora glanced up at him, raising a brow. Groot only opened one large hand, and she watched in memorization as a small blue and white flower grew from his palm. 

“Rocket will like that,” she attempted a lighter tone. 

“It’s not for Rocket,” Groot held it out to her. “I was right, that he is a part of this team. This family. His life and his death do not belong solely to him. But you belong to this family too.”

With that the tears escaped her, she took the flower, gently snapping it away from his palm. 

“I am sorry,” Groot professed. She watched him walk around the bed carefully to her and open his arms. Gamora fell into the hug with as much overwhelming joy as exhaustion. The strong bark steady and assuring. 

“I’m sorry too Groot. I didn’t want to hide things from you.” He’d never know the insatiable guilt that had wracked her during those months. He’d never know how it took everything within her not to say anything. How it had haunted her. “But I promised him I’d honor his choice and I know he’d do the same for any of us.” Groot’s arms tightened around her. “He didn’t want to come back here, he’d rather die and...I’d make the same call if I had to go back to Thanos.” 

Groot’s large head leaned on top of her own, pulling her tighter into his embrace. 

“I know.” 

She let herself remain in the flora colossus arms a moment longer, a safe warm place. No wonder Rocket liked to curl up with the tree creature when he went to sleep. Gamora finally reluctantly withdrew, tucking the flower behind her ear. 

“I’ll give you two some privacy. He’ll want to see you when he wakes.” 

“You can stay Gamora. He’ll want to see all of us.” 

The rest of them filed in later, after the Halfworlders approved it. They gathered around the raccoonoid shortly before he woke up, cursing but relieved. 

“I know I’m not doing any good by lying here. I’ll get better,” he breathed. 

“Hey,” Peter took the ringtails hand. “Don’t worry about that, take all the time you need.” Rocket surveyed them all. Gamora stood beside Groot, her heart light for the first time in her recent memory.

“I knew we got a whole galaxy to save….”

“The galaxy can wait.”

Rocket nodded, happy tears formed around the edges of his eyes. He moved from person to person, finally landing on Gamora. 

_Thank you,_

The raccoonoid mouthed to her. Her heart hitched in her chest but she grinned, standing there with all of them. Rocket would be okay. Groot forgave her. She’d kept her word after all. Peter was right, the galaxy could wait. For all of them.


End file.
